Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A Bruin Response, and a Husky Apology

Sometimes when I am churning out the content for Pac Ten Alley I miss the true inflection, and in this case the true source of what is being said, and who is saying it.

So it makes sense to post the response from the great gang at the UCLA blog. The UCLA blog as you all know is one of the very best in the country, and they have been very supportive of my blog.

Obviously I was clipping and posting before work and didn't take the time I needed to read through everything. In my defense it takes a lot of work to get this stuff posted every day, and sometimes I make mistakes. It doesn't happen every day, but when I do it gets pointed out pretty quickly.

So here goes...., and I apologize to our good friends at the UCLA blog who do a fantastic job, and have a very keen, and balanced eye when it comes to college athletics.

Hey John,

You are doing a great job as always. However, we think you missed our takes when you wrote this:

The Bruin Blog has this tidbit about the Washington game. What Nestor and the gang are forgetting is that UCLA isn't going to be very good this year. They have no offensive line, and by the time they play UW they probably won't have a QB. No way does UW lose to UCLA this year unless Willingham is totally incompetent. I can understand the half empty glass scenario, an 0-3 start could mean big trouble. By the way Nestor, Jake is Tebow good!

Please note that was written by Adam Rose, a USC alum who writes for the LAT's "What's Bruin" blog (very screwed up and just one reason why we call LA Times, the Trojan Times). We totally disagreed with that take and wrote this in response

That was from Adam Rose, the Trojan alum who runs LAT's "What's Bruin" blog. In his analysis Adam misses the central point that is going to be the backdrop in this game, which is emotion. I guess Adam missed the 13-9 (or 9-13 from his pov) score from two years ago, when emotion (along with good defensive schemes combined with some opportune/courageous QBing from Cowan) enabled UCLA to preserve its unmatched 8 game winning streak. Adam writes up about Huskies difficult pre-season schedule, completely ignoring UCLA's pre-season schedule which is just as tough as UDub's featuring Tennessee, Fresno State and BYU on the road (while UDub is taking on the Cougars at home).

Adam also conveniently forgets to mention how UCLA has had a difficult time playing up in Seattle losing 2 out of its last games up there (would have 3 straight losses if not for MJD's breakout game in his sophomore season). So, we hopel Adam will stick to sharing links and just reporting on news on "What's Bruin" instead of sharing his analysis/commentary which seems to be tinted from a Trojan pointed view (not sure what else to call it since he is a Trojan).Anyway, we will see how it turns out. If Neuheisel finds a way to pull out a victory in that game, it will be a huge boost for UCLA. However, it's a little ridiculous to call the game "most manageable" for UCLA completely discounting the emotional storyline that has the Huskies circled this date as their game of the year.

Well … we will see how it goes … when we get to that game week. I am sure the reporters based in Seattle (and probably in LA) have already have their templates written up for their stories reiterating about those 50 alleged violations in Washington, the interviews with Notre Dame and Forty Niners, replete with one pot shots after another about March Madness pool. Sure there will be few here and there giving Neuheisel's side of the story, but majority of the MSM (and the New Media) will go with the easy storyline, especially of the Bruins come into that game with a very average W-L record (as we along with many others are expecting). Simply put people will look to pounce on Neuheisel and the Bruins and that's fine.So while we are not conceding defeat, we agree with you - Washington will be the favorite to win this game.

We hope you can note our real impressions because currently the way it appears it totally misrepresents what Nestor et al wrote.- BN Eds